Death Note news articles

There's nothing like opportunism and German rockers No Need to Stay can see it shining like a New World God. However they need your assistance here. Are you up for it?

The US Death Note live action movie gaining a new director is diverting news for us all, but when you have a successful hard rock tune all about Light Yagami, then there are possibilities here.

Asuka from No Need to Stay is no stranger to Death Note News. He gave us an interview a few months back all about his band's song The Chosen One.

Now he's nipped back to ask if we'd help No Need to Stay end up on the Death Note soundtrack. All he's asking is that we Tweet The Chosen One to Adam Wingard. Perhaps with a 'isn't this a lovely Death Note song for a movie soundtrack?' comment or three. Just to, you know, get it into the director's orbit. Onto his playlist and all.

What do you say? We going to help Asuka and crew here? Oh What the Hell:

Anybody getting deja vu? After all that talk of Shane Black, then Gus van Sant directing the long awaited US Death Note movie, we now have a third announcement.

Adam Wingard (The Guest, You're Next, V/H/S (1 and 2)) is set to direct Death Note, according to an exclusive at The Hollywood Reporter (April 27th 2015).

However, it won't be immediately. He's still got The Woods to film and get out first.

Roy Lee, Dan Lin, Jason Offs and Masi Oka are mooted to be Death Note's US producers.

With Adam Wingard at the helm, we're probably looking at a Hollywood version of Death Note which focuses totally upon the horror. At this point in time, I'm not nearly so buzzed as I was when I thought Gus van Sant would be giving us an adaptation. This feels more gore than drama, but then I could be very wrong.

Whatever happens, it seems that Death Note is becoming big news again. Two theatrical performances; a television show with new story-lines; and now we have the practically mythical Death Note US movie popping back into existence.

The actresses playing Misa Amane and Sayu Yagami in Death Note the Musical have been interviewed about their roles for Tokyo Girls magazine.

Featured in its March 15th 2015 issue, Ami Maeshima (Sayu) and Fuka Yuduki (Misa) talked about being members of Death Note's original Japanese cast.

Both revealed that they were Death Note fans before the stage show was even a thing. Ami went to the cinema with her family to see the live action movies - and kept the flyer because it looked like a Death Note.

Fuka recalled her shock at seeing Misa Misa bound and gagged in the manga. A recollection which didn't at all help when she read 'bound to a board' in the Death Note theatrical script. At the time of the interview, she hadn't yet rehearsed that scene to see how bad it could possibly be!

As a Death Note fan, Ami admitted some trepidation at the notion of Death Note being turned into a musical, but was reassured as soon as she read the script. Sayu's actress appeared confident that we'll love it too.

The fandom has really reached out to her too. Ami was pleasantly surprised, upon the announcement that she had been cast, to discover the on-going appeal and extent of the Death Note fandom. It seems that many of us Tweeted her from all over the world, making friends, asking questions or merely wishing her well.

Beyond that, the actresses discussed what it was like being in Death Note the Musical and how their personal friendship with each other had been forged through it.

Better late than never - the final profile from the original Japanese cast of Death Note the Musical. Teen pop idol Ami Maeshima - one of the 12 strong members of Super Girls - brings Sayu Yagami to all singing, all dancing life!

Sayu Yagami actress Ami Maeshima

J-Popstar Ami Maeshima in Super Girls

In 2010, Ami Maeshima beat out over 7000 other hopefuls to win a coveted place in the teen girl band SUPER☆GiRLS. The group was assembled by Japanese record label Avex Trax through several arduous rounds of public auditions. It's gone on to repeatedly top the charts, gathering pop awards aplenty.

Clad in rose pink, Ami is an original member. A pop idol used to performing in stadiums, being rushed through hordes of fans and living with the constant attention of the Japanese paparazzi. Her fame is equally as strong in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Now her name will garner even greater international acclaim for she will bring to life Sayu Yagami in the Death Note Musical, and Death Note fans are everywhere.

In addition to performing in all of Super Girl's hit tunes (like Max! above), Ami had her moment in the spotlight. The group's Sentimental Journey (below) was released under her name too, as she took the lead vocals.

Death Note's Sayu - Ami Maeshima Biography

Known to her friends and family as Amita, the actress was born on November 22nd 1997, in Saitama, Japan. She was just thirteen, when she became a Super Girl. (She's only 18 now!)

A year later, Ami became the recurring commercial face of Ito-Yokado, a Japanese retail chain. Between 2011-2014, she was also a model for the Pichiremon (Gakken) line of gel nail polish. In 2013, Ami helped promote a Vintage Toy Exhibition too.

Amita (Photo Album)

While being a Super Girl might be all about singing and dancing, the teenager is no stranger to acting either. She's had roles in five Japanese dramas - Suiensaa (2011), Sprout (2012), Tsuri Deka (2012-13), Family Game (2013) and Dad and Together (2014)

In 2013, Ami appeared as a character in the Nintendo 3DS original story game SPEC - Interference. This wasn't her first outing as a gaming voice actress. She'd contributed dialogue for the arcade game Pretty Rhythm: Aurora Dream back in 2011.

As a Super Girl, she's been the focus of two officially produced photo albums: Amita (2012) and Maeshima Ami (2013).

Her professional profile lists Ami's interests as being anime (we can all identify with that one!), playing with her cats and visiting the local planetarium.

While Sayu Yagami might have 'victim' plastered all over her demeanour, Ami Maeshima is no push-over. If Mello's Mafia thugs ever came for the actress, they'd be met with some serious karate resistance. Ami is especially known for her round-house kicks.

So what do you reckon? Could Ami Maeshima wear the face of Sayu Yagami for you? Perfectly cast or oh dear? Personally she passes muster with me!

Remember how - back in October 2014 - I spent the best part of two days in cyber stores on a seemingly endless hunt for every last Death Note DVD, box set and blu-ray disc?

Nope? Well, I can. I'm still traumatized - randomly twitching in time to all the clicking I did.

After all of that, the last thing I wanted to do was tat with the best formatting for our Death Note store. So I tested out a few, then left it live on-line for feedback purposes.

And promptly forgot all about it.

Ooops! Bit embarrassing really, how ugly that Death Note News page has looked for the past seven months. Sorry about that. I'm a crap business woman, not at all professional, and such things reflect upon us all.

Then again, I've managed to exist for over half a year without having to repetitively click anything which isn't punctuated regularly by a level up screen.

Until yesterday. And today. You really, seriously would not believe how long it takes to hunt down quality Death Note DVD cover images; scale them to the right size; tidy up the ones now horrifically pixelated; then shepherd them all into place. So many hours that I will never see returned.

I know that no-one else in the world cares a jot about this. But care, damn it!

I clicked until insanity threatened, then made a cup of tea and clicked some more. Tinkering with titles to get them all lined up; double-checking URLs; ensuring each were in the correct categories... just don't ASK me about the moment when I accidentally deleted a whole section just completed. *sob*

Then pretend that you've been in at least once during the last seven months, so you can tell the difference and oohhh! in delight and wonder in the comments.

Please. Twitch. Twitch. Twitch. Notice what I did. Madness is just a tea-cup away. Twitch. Love it and if the muse takes you, I'd appreciate the passing on of links and the occasional purchase if there's a gap in your Death Note movie, anime and random stuff collection.

Everyone here assumed that the new Death Note television telling would merely dramatize what went before.

We cheered when it was announced that Near would be cast. That meant that the second arc would be included too. We'd finally get a live action Mello strutting his rock star persona, Mafia dark and angry, across our screens.

But it seems that our original presumption was incorrect. This isn't the same story at all.

The TV Death Note series will be a brand new storyline, which we now believe will continue where the last one left off. In short, Near versus some new Kira out in the wilds.

Maybe Ryuk got bored and just threw another stolen Death Note at a random Japanese teenager. Or the extant Death Notes - that Near had burned - weren't quite as incinerated as he was led to believe.

Though there's also the semi-alternative plot-line that exists as canon, via the novelisation L: Change the World, wherein a young Thai Near survived the Kira case. There's a strong possibility that the Death Note television show will continue from here instead.

In which case, how old IS little Narushi Fukuda now? And will he be back to reprise his role as Near?

"Near: Change The World" by Source. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia

I've just checked. Narushi was born on January 7th 2000, which makes him fifteen now. Perfect for a Death Note era Near?

Death Note Television Show

With announcements trickling through bit by bit, and speculation running rife through the fandom, it's worth recapping all that we know for certain right now:

The television Death Note adaptation was announced via a single forthcoming event strip in Weekly Shonen Jump (April 20th 2015, no 21). It was inserted into that edition's chapter of Gakkyū Hōtei - wherein Takeshi Obata is the artist.

Weekly Shonen Jump Announcement re Death Note

Death Note's TV drama will air on NTV, premiere in July 2015. It will run on Sundays.

There will be a brand new cast and storyline. Not a rehash of the manga/movies/novels, as revealed in Japan's AnimeAnime.

According to iDigitalTimes, Tatsuya Fujiwara and Kenichi Matsuyama will not be reprising their roles from the Death Note movies.

This is the trailer for Death Note the Musical that we've all been waiting to see! Full costume, lights, action, stage setting and all the rest - so what do you think?

Orangepunch and I have just watched it together and we're impressed. Looking forward to one day enjoying an English language version of the Death Note stage play, whilst speculating on what it would be like to view the second arc too. Imagine Mello in the limelight.

Imagine Matt walking on stage for (probably) one scene, and all the place in uproar because he turned up. Yes, we want. Gods of this new world, make it happen please!

Rahul Sridhar - a fifteen year old Death Note fan from Lucknow, India - jumped to his death from his school building this week.

At least two newspapers are linking that to his love of the manga.

Rahul came from Lucknow - the capital city of India's Upper Pradesh district - where he attended the prestigious La Martiniere school.

On April 10th 2015, at 11.15am, he leapt from a fourth floor ledge of its Constantia building. Rahul was rushed to hospital with horrific head injuries, where he died shortly later. His suicide was witnessed by several horrified students, some of whom have penned blogs to express their traumatised reactions.

Rahul's elder brother Rohit has hit out at school authorities. They didn't act fast enough to curb the bullying to which his brother was subjected at the school. Rohit believes it wasn't even suicide. He's lodged a complaint with the police stating that Rahul may have been pushed by those same bullies.

The investigation thus far appears to have circled around another angle - Rahul had been spending a lot of time talking and texting with a female friend. He deleted entries from his call log and burned papers upon the ledge, which are suspected to have pertained to her.

When he died, a note in his back pocket read, 'waiting for you Juliet'. He'd painted 'waiting for you' on a wall close to where he jumped.

Rahul Sridhar and Death Note

However, some elements of the press are seizing upon Rahul Sridhar's love of Death Note as a contributory factor in this tragic event.

The front page of the Hindustan Times, on April 12th 2015, ran an editorial noting that Rahul's Facebook cover image was Death Note related.

It was Kira, captioned 'I am the God of this New World'.

Under the headline 'Was 'Death Note' as FB Cover Rahul's distress signal?', it was reported that La Martinere's school management were left 'puzzled' by the picture. They would be looking into what 'drove' the teenager to read the 'thriller'.

It was suggested that reading manga like Death Note would be used in future as an alert. Students enjoying such literature might find it triggering a recommendation to their parents that counseling should be forthcoming.

On the same day, The Times of India scrambled around to find people who would attest that Rahul Sridhar was indeed an introverted, manga obsessed Death Note fan.

Under the headline 'Introvert Who Doodled Death Note', Sawil Khan - who rode on the same school bus as the stricken teen - told reporters that Rahul didn't interact much with other students, preferring to listen to music on his MP3 player. Mihir Kumar - another classroom - called Rahul introverted.

Then Rohit Sridhar described his brother's propensity to draw manga and anime characters that Rahul liked. '(Death Note) was there in every notebook of his. It was his favourite.'

In short, reporters are already reaching to stick this one onto Death Note.

Hindustan Times (April 12th 2015)

Don't Blame Death Note for Teen's Death

Light Yagami in Death Note

There are plenty of armchair psychologists, without full possession of the facts, coming up with speculation on such matters as these. Journalists with copy to sell finding any theory to shift newspapers from their stands.

I can't escape the unsettling feeling that I could be counted amongst them.

But I like to think that I'm writing for pity - my heart breaks when I consider what Rahul's family and friends are going through right now - and awareness. No problem is so vast that time can't move it along, with a little help from communication and working to fix the underlying issues. I didn't know Rahul, but I wish my time machine worked and I could be on that ledge waiting for him.

We had a shared language and frame of reference. We had Death Note.

Tragedy and heartbreak aside, what worries me most about speculation in the wake of Rahul's suicide is this propensity to find a thing - Death Note - and apportion blame. It's too pat, too easy and won't save the next child to stand on a ledge and wish for an end.

The next Rahul will be helped by those investigating with all the known facts. Those who can identify the bullying, the (failed? thwarted?) romance, the depression or whatever else it really was that drove him to despair. Because it sure as Hell wasn't Death Note.

The darkness and moral ambiguity of that story, to my mind, is the sort of thing that appeals to those who think deeply about right and wrong. It's an escape; an avenue for catharsis, which might have saved another mind. If whatever required the escape wasn't so overwhelmingly stacked against him.

I guess that all I'm saying is - don't reach for the easy answer, nor play the blame game on something which causes a moral scare enough to make this go away. Because it won't go away, as long as the real reasons are there.

Tackle them. That's all.

And for now, RIP Rahul Sridhar. I didn't know you, but you were one of our own. We have a man down and for that I'm sorry.

Need to talk about it?

Whatever crap is going down, I can guarantee that you are loved and will be missed by more people than you know. You matter a lot.

Befrienders Worldwide- International organisation providing local helplines for those feeling like suicide is the only way out. It's not. Please give them a chance to prove it to you.

With Death Note the Musical beginning its run today at the Nissay Theatre in Tokyo, the main question in the collective mind of the rest of the world is - do we get to see it too?

According to an article in the Japan News, the answer is yes/possibly/probably.

Yoshitaka Hori - president of HoriPro, which wrote, owns and staged the show in Japan - has his sights firmly set upon a global market. Fully aware of the international appeal of Japanese manga, and the interest in Death Note particularly, HoriPro will be looking to sell the rights to the stage performance, rather than touring with the Japanese cast.

This would allow each country to stage a version of Death Note most relevant to their own audiences, in their own languages, with their own stars.

The initial queries are being made in Paris, as French audiences appear especially receptive right now. But that might take as long as ten years to complete.

So the game is on - which actors would you have play the lead characters in your own 'hood? Time to approach our national theatre companies with a firm YES THERE IS INTEREST HERE TOO!

What's surprised me about this whole endeavour are the number of Death Note books that I didn't know existed. Not to mention the reprints ninja-ed out by various publishers.

Did you know that Takeshi Obata had a posh tome of artwork out? It's pages include a plethora of Death Note images, which never made it into the manga nor anime. Possibly because they look like they should be hanging in a gallery somewhere.

Blanc et Noir is probably the source of all those random canon Death Note pictures that you've been seeing on-line for years, without knowing the source. Like this one - which has caused so much excitement and debate between Light and Mello fans in the past, each claiming him as their own and using it to 'prove' that their man became a shinigami:

Light or Mello? Shinigami from Blanc et Noir by Takeshi Obata

Actually, it's neither. This is Takeshi's original take on the 'rock star' look of shinigamis. You're looking at Ryuk, before he was steered into the skeletal look more familiar to us all.

While collecting together Death Note literature for our store, I was bemused to note that Amazon is now accepting some fan-made doujinshi. Also, it was oddly satisfying to learn that Beyond Birthday has finally made it onto a book cover, in the recent German translations of the Death Note novels.

Though confusingly that was on L: Change the World, not Another Note.

So please do go and take a look. All proceeds help towards maintaining this site. Any discoveries or items to cause comment for you?

It's nearly time for the musical stage show of Death Note to begin its première run in Tokyo. Ahead of that exciting moment, the producers have released another rehearsal video with many more songs from the stage adaptation.

We begin with Dekiru Mononara as performed by Kenji Urai - one of the two actors playing Kira in the Death Note Musical. It patently describes the moment when Light Yagami finds the Death Note.

Taking on the role of Kira on alternate nights is Hayato Kakizawa, who appears in the second song Death Note. Here we see, and hear, some of that infamous Kira passion.

Fuza Yuzuki, as Misa Amani, kicks in for the third songKoisuru Kakugo. A good old singing and dancing romp as befits a character at the top of the JPop game. But not all is fun and lightness here, as Ryuk is boogieing down in the corner.

The fourth song sees the proverbial getting real again, as Kira (Kenji Urai) and L (Teppei Koikie) spar in Shi No Game. I feel that L loses something in an Adidas shirt.

Imagine my surprise to be wandering around the local supermarket and spotting this:

Perhaps it's my one track mind at play, but I can't think of any good reason - other than someone in their marketing department has heard of Mr Keehl - for these chocolates to be called Mello's. There's even that possessive apostrophe making it clear that Mello is someone to own this chocolate-y treat.

Naturally, in the interests of science, I had to purchase a pack and eat them.

I can't quite imagine Mello having one of his ferocious eating-chocolate-with-malice-aforethought bites with a small marshmallow tea treat, but yolo. I enjoyed them.

Incidentally, in my stories, Mello's chocolate is Bourneville Dark - also made by Cadbury.